HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Jan. 6, 2014) – Almost a year on after the earthquake and tsunami struck Temotu Province on 6 February 2013, majority of those who lost their homes are still living in temporary shelters.

Santa Cruz villages that suffered the brunt of the tsunami are Venga, Nea, Malo, Nemba, Manoputi, luova and Bania.

"Where’s the shelter rehabilitation we were promised?" villagers asked when the Solomon Star visited them last month.

At Malo, villagers say they received relief supplies for three months after the disaster.

"Then everything stopped and that’s it. We have not heard from the NGOs or the government again," one villager who asked not to be named said.

Villagers say they were told the World Vision office at provincial capital Lata would spearhead the rehabilitation process.

Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i

News Release

Yap State Government Colonia, Yap, FSM

January 6, 2014

Yap state has been invited to participate in an international festival in Confolens, France, according to Sen. Joseph J. Urusemal, chairman of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia, Yap delegation.

The invitation to the international festival was extended to the FSM through the French Senate, after a visit to France by delegation from the 17th FSM Congress, which included then-Speaker Isaac Figir.

Chief of media and protocol Sebastian Tamagken, in collaboration with the Yap Visitors Bureau and the Historical Preservation Office, volunteered to coordinate the effort of organizing a dance troupe and delegation to participate in the festival.

Senator Urusemal urged the Yap leadership and the entire state to unite and make the...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Jan. 6,2014) – The political grouping, the United Front for a Democratic Fiji (UFDF), is calling on all government departments to document what it describes as excesses and abuses by regime-sponsored chief executives and directors.

In a statement, the UFDF says the Fiji Electricity Authority's (FEA) chief executive, Hasmukh Patel, has received back pay in the past month in excess of US$50,000, while other senior staff received nothing.

The UFDF says his contract was recently extended by three years and his salary increased to more than US$190,000 in addition to back pay and benefits.

It says sources from the Fiji Electricity Authority report Mr Patel named his own salary and asked the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers to provide a justification for the increase before it was signed off by the board and the Attorney General.

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, Jan. 7, 2014) – Instead of forming a $100,000 commission to find out whether people still want to maintain the CNMI’s political relationship with the United States under the Covenant, "why not ask the voters directly through an initiative and move from there?" according to Rep. Tony Sablan (Ind-Saipan).

"They are doing it backwards," Sablan told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

If most voters are satisfied with the CNMI-U.S. relationship, "then we give it a rest."

This saves the CNMI time, effort, and what Sablan describes as a "conservative" amount of $100,000 to fund a commission and hire people for the commission.

"If most of the voters are not satisfied, then that’s the time you create a commission to see what kind of other relationship they want," Sablan added.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Jan. 6, 2014) – There’s currently only one permanent building that served as a classroom at Luesalemba Provincial Secondary School in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands.

And that was the one funded under the Provincial Government Strengthening Programme (PGSP).

PSGP stepped in and assisted the school, which has been destroyed by the earthquake last year, with a classroom building, two staff houses and a boy’s dormitory.

The total cost of the project was about SBD$1.5 million [US$203,700].

Only form five and six students use the new PGSP sponsored building while the rest of the school used tents that were provided by World Vision.

The natural disaster that hit the province early last year destroyed the school’s very old buildings, including all the classrooms.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Jan. 7, 2014) – Three sets of warrants are out for the arrest of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Treasurer Don Polye and Finance Minister James Marape.

According to court documents given to the Post-Courier, the warrants were issued by the Waigani District Court in November last year on the complaint of a detective senior constable with the National Fraud and Anti Corruption Directorate, Robert Ewail.

To reinforce the earlier warrant, senior const Ewail has taken out another order from the same court in December, this one restraining his superiors and the Royal PNG Constabulary top brass, including the Police Commissioner from issuing formal, informal, written or verbal directives to prevent, delay or frustrate the execution of the warrant for arrest of the trio.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Jan. 6, 2014) – The head of Fiji's media watchdog says national televised debates between political parties would be a good idea leading up to the elections later this year.

The United Front for a Democratic Fiji has invited members of the Bainimarama regime to national debates on TV, radio and in public meetings.

The political grouping says local media typically run statements from the regime, without seeking opposing views.

But the Media Industry Development Authority believes news outlets in general are producing balanced reports and the director Matai Akauola says there's nothing preventing a televised debate.

"There's freedom of expression so anyone and everyone can come onboard into a nationally televised discussion on issues, we're talking issues and how to progress this nation rather than going back to the old political...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.